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As the world's biggest electronics manufacturer, Foxconn has often been there to help Google. It provides the nuts and bolts for Glass, after all. However, a new report suggests Google's continued investment in robotics has put it in a position to give something back, using its own technology to better automate Foxconn's assembly robots. The Wall Street Journal reports that Google's Andy Rubin, the man who once led Android and now directs Mountain View's robotics efforts, recently met with Foxconn chairman Terry Gou to help "speed up robot deployment" at Hon Hai factories, with a view to integrating one of Google's own engineering companies later down the line. Google, of course, acquired BigDog-maker Boston Dynamics late last year, snatching up an additional seven technology companies to help it realize its robotic dreams. As it stands, Google and Foxconn's partnership will initially focus on improving the efficiency of the Taiwanese company's robot workforce, as it looks to mitigate against rising labor costs and improve production yields. Google is also tipped to turn its robots loose on Amazon, with Jeff Bezos' retail business reportedly fixed firmly in its crosshairs.

The iPhone turned the tech world on its head and ushered in the modern era of the smartphone. In unveiling the iPhone, Apple not only captured the attention of the masses, but also delivered a huge kick in the arse to competitors who quickly realized that their current product roadmaps were instantly outdated.

Steve Jobs famously called Android a stolen product (in addition to promising to go thermonuclear on them), a point to which Android enthusiasts like to point out that Google actually acquired the Andy Rubin-led Android team in August 2005. Still, the type of product Android embodied drastically shifted once Jobs graced the stage at Macworld 2007 and revealed the iPhone for the very first time.

In his new book, Dogfight: How Apple and Google went to War and Started a Revolution, Fred Vogelstein captures the reaction that many of the early Android engineers had upon learning of the iPhone. In short, many were shocked and soon came to the realization that the version of Android they had been working on for so many months would have to be scrapped. An iPhone-type experience was the future, and it was clear to many involved that they would have to follow suit.

Vogelstein relays a quote from Google engineer Chris DeSalvo, who said, "As a consumer, I was blown away. I wanted one immediately. But as a Google engineer, I thought, 'We're going to have to start over.'"

For most of Silicon Valley-including most of Google-the iPhone's unveiling on January 9, 2007 was something to celebrate. Jobs had once again done the impossible. Four years before he'd talked an intransigent music industry into letting him put their catalog on iTunes for ninety-nine cents a song. Now he had convinced a wireless car­rier to let him build a revolutionary smartphone.

But for the Google Android team, the iPhone was a kick in the stomach. "What we had suddenly looked just so . . . nineties," DeSalvo said. "It's just one of those things that are obvious when you see it."

The significance of Jobs' iPhone announcement wasn't lost on Android chief and former Apple engineer Rubin. Vogelstein writes that Rubin at the time was in Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show. Indeed, many at the time expressed astonishment that a lone company like Apple could completely upstage an event as storied and grandiose as CES. In any event, upon watching the Apple keynote, Rubin knew that his Android team had to re-evaluate its strategy.

That's not to say that the Android models that Rubin and his team were working on were complete crap, but those devices lacked many of the features that made the iPhone so distinct and revolutionary. For instance, the Android models being developed at Google all sported traditional QWERTY keyboards, a feature Jobs lambasted during his keynote.

Now to be fair, the iPhone didn't catch just the Android folks off-guard; it caught everyone off-guard. If you go back and look at many of the early iPhone rumors that circulated before January 2007, even the most ambitious predictions and outlandish mockups absolutely paled in comparison to what Apple actually had in store.

Further, other companies were just as astonished by Jobs' iPhone introduction. A former RIM employee, for instance, recounted how many folks inside RIM were in disbelief following the iPhone introduction.

All these companies were fighting over what amounts to overgrown PDAs with phones and wireless stacks strapped on. Everyone assumed power density was no where even close to what was needed for general computing, that a full featured browser and heavy duty Internet services were impossible due to bandwidth and latency. Take a look at how our Java expert groups named standards, how people at the time talked about what features smart phones should have, and it's clear that no one thought an iPhone was possible. Even Danger, which eventually [led to] Windows Phone 7 and Android, was just working on a better Blackberry.

I left RIM back in 2006 just months before the iPhone launched and I remember talking to friends from RIM and Microsoft about what their teams thought about it at the time. Everyone was utterly shocked. RIM was even in denial the day after the iPhone was announced with all-hands meets claiming all manner of weird things about iPhone: It couldn't do what they were demonstrating without an insanely power hungry processor; it must have terrible battery life, etc. Imagine their surprise when they disassembled an iPhone for the first time and found that the phone was battery with a tiny logic board strapped to it. It was ridiculous, it was brilliant.

The folks working on Android, to their credit, were able to reverse course and steer Android in an iPhone-like direction. RIM, on the other hand, remained beholden to their QWERTY keyboards for far too long and we all saw how well that worked out for them.

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

If those Google retail rumors fuelled visions of whiling away some mall-time, thumbing at the latest Nexus gadgets in a parlor of their own, then Andy Rubin says keep dreaming. While there are some legitimate Google outposts to be found in stores, the Android chief has confirmed to journalists today that -- as far as he's concerned -- there's no need to explore bricks and mortar stores of their own. Rubin was adamant that there are no plans at this time -- and he's in a good position to know. The reason, however, isn't to do with the ageing model of retail, or a well pinned map of consumer behaviour patterns, with Rubin merely stating that he didn't think the Nexus line is quite at the stage that would warrant a store of its own, the same is true of it home-grown Chromebook devices. That's ok though, if you just gotta have that Nexus right now, there are still some options to explore.

Google's Senior Mobile VP Andy Rubin has been cool towards tablet apps, arguing that mobile titles shouldn't be tuned to a specific form factor. Whether you agree with that assessment or not, his company has produced an (arguably overdue) tablet app checklist to help developers with big screen ambitions. The step-by-step walkthrough tells developers how to make the most of all that free space and optimize for the larger hardware, touch input targets and widgets. There's a difference between having guidelines and getting app writers to follow them, but the checklist is an important step towards keeping that Galaxy Note 10.1 or Nexus 7 well-fed.

Andy Rubin has added another response to Alibaba's Aliyun OS, after Google's insistence that Acer put the launch of its new smartphone on pause. He focuses (again) on the Open Handset Alliance (OHA), which OEMs agree to when they work with the platform, promising to keep Android a happy (and relatively compatible) platform. Amazon dodges any similar issues with its Kindle Fire tablets, because it didn't sign up to the same alliance. Rubin says that because Aliyun uses Android's framework and tools -- as well as housing some suspect Android apps (and pirated Google programs) within its own App Store -- the mobile OS "takes advantage of all the hard work that's gone into that platform by the OHA." Google's looking to protect how Android behaves as a whole, and the senior VP suggests that if Alibaba's new OS wanted "to benefit from the Android ecosystem" then they could make the move across to full compatibility. We're still waiting to hear what Acer (and Alibaba) plan to do next.

On Thursday, we starting hearing claims that Google had strong-armed Acer out of launching its A800 CloudMobile in China with the Aliyun operating system. We reached out to the search giant for its response, but they declined to comment. Over the last 24 hours, though, Google has attempted to explain its stance, but at the same time has potentially created some confusion about how open Android really is. Below is the initial statement received by Marketing Land:

"Compatibility is at the heart of the Android ecosystem and ensures a consistent experience for developers, manufacturers and consumers. Non-compatible versions of Android, like Aliyun, weaken the ecosystem. All members of the Open Handset Alliance have committed to building one Android platform and to not ship non-compatible Android devices. This does not however, keep OHA members from participating in competing ecosystems."

This is clearly outlining Google's intention to prevent forked Android spin-offs from diluting the platform and the user experience. Fair enough. The trouble seems to be, however, defining when something is Android compatible, rather than its own separate (albeit Android-based) operating system. Amazon's Kindle Fire will instantly spring to mind. The new tablets run on Ice Cream Sandwich, but are fenced-off from the official Play store and other Google offerings. As you can imagine, the debate has started to get a little heated, we go into it in more detail past the break.

Wondering just how well Apple's iOS device sales have been faring versus their Android counterparts? CEO Tim Cook has just revealed that Apple has sold (not just shipped) 400 million iOS devices from the 2007 launch through to June 2012, a hike from the 365 million it reported at WWDC. For context, Google's Andy Rubin mentioned just Tuesday that a total of 500 million Android devices had been activated, although the gap may be closer than implied at first: there's been a few months between then and now, after all. Still, the new tallies show that Google wasn't waiting for the iPhone 5 to quicken its pace, even if Apple's sales are still very brisk.

We've got good news and bad news in equal measure for those pining after a Nexus 7 of their very own. If you're reluctant to spend that much hard-earned cash at the Google Play Store, Google's senior VP of mobile Andy Rubin has hinted to AllThingsD that the ASUS-made tablet could end up at retail stores before too long; the Play-only availability was just what Google had to mention at I/O. There could be some markup in other channels, given that Google is selling at what's very nearly wholesale prices. The bad news? Google won't be changing its attitude towards tablet-native apps anytime soon. Rubin sees Google Play content additions as key to driving Android tablet adoption, not the encouragement of tablet-specific app development -- he'd prefer the one-size-fits-all model. We'll see whether magazines and movie sales are enough to turn around so-so market share, but if you were hoping Rubin would address criticisms that Android tablet apps are just blown-up phone apps, you'll have to keep waiting.

It's been awhile since we learned how many unique Android devices were switching on every day; the last time was at Mobile World Congress, when Google's senior mobile VP Andy Rubin confirmed 850,000 activations a day just as we were fruitlessly practicing our Catalan. He's now chiming in with word that the daily rate is up to 900,000 cellular-enabled phones and tablets as of June. That's a ways off from the breakneck pace of growth in 2011, but it certainly shows that Android is no shrinking violet just yet. Rubin's answer is ostensibly prompted by a need to debunk a rumor that he might be leaving Google -- there's "no plans" for that, he says. All the same, we're sure he doesn't mind ever-so-slightly deflating Apple's balloon before WWDC 2012 kicks off tomorrow.

If you hadn't noticed, it's Mobile World Congress this week and Google's showing off its enormous booth packed to the gills with smiling green Androids. Andy Rubin insouciantly added that the Android Marketplace has reached its latest milestone: there are now 450,000 apps available for the platform. Other pertinent stats are that over a billion apps are downloaded every month and that 850,000 Android devices are activated each day -- meaning that there's more than 300 million of them worldwide. Of course, that's not the real story here at MWC, it's that the company have brought along a bedazzling booth for guests to glue as many false jewels to their Galaxy Nexus back-plate as their self-respect can handle.

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000 Apps000Apps300 Million300Million450AndroidAndroid Market MilestoneAndroidMarketMilestoneAndy RubinAndyRubinApp Store MilestoneAppStoreMilestoneBusinessGoogleMilestonemobilepostcrossMWCMWC 2012Mwc2012NumbersStatsMon, 27 Feb 2012 05:44:00 -050021|20180244http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/28/android-and-ios-share-a-merry-little-christmas-seven-million-to/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi
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Google's SVP of Mobile just provided us with another glimpse inside the horse's mouth, claiming that Android scored 3.7 million new device activations over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. To put that in context, Flurry reported that total Android and iOS activations on Christmas Day alone totaled 6.8 million. If we can accept a very high margin of error, and if we assume that the vast majority of Rubin's activations were on the 25th, then we might extrapolate a roughly even split between the two rival platforms. Considering where Android was just a couple of Christmas's ago, it's no wonder that Mr Rubin is in the tweeting mood.

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2011activationactivationsAmazon AppstoreAmazonAppstoreandroidAndroid MarketAndroidMarketAndy RubinAndyRubinapp downloadsapp storeapp storesAppDownloadsappleapple iosAppleIosappsAppStoreAppStoresChristmasChristmas 2011Christmas2011figuresgooglegoogle androidGoogleAndroidiosmobilepostcrossplatformstatisticsstatsWed, 28 Dec 2011 05:55:00 -050021|20136295http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/20/googles-andy-rubin-defines-android-activation-trumpets-700-0/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi
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Looking for growth? You've found it. If you'll recall, Google's own Senior Vice President of Mobile Andy Rubin confirmed that over 500,000 Android devices were being activated back in June, and during last month's Galaxy Nexus reveal, we learned that said figure had increased to 550,000 per day. In just over a month, the tally has now climbed to 700,000 per 24 hour period. That's according to a post by Andy himself on Google+, which he followed with this:

"For those wondering, we count each device only once (i.e., we don't count re-sold devices), and "activations" means you go into a store, buy a device [and] put it on the network by subscribing to a wireless service."

In other words, there are many, many more Android devices being ushered into use every single day that don't connect to any monitored wireless service, but naturally, keeping track of those is something even Google isn't about to attempt. Any guesses as to what this figure jumps to after the holiday season concludes?

Siri is the talk of the town now that the iPhone 4S is in the hands of over four million customers. There has been a deluge of articles about using Siri, funny phrases it says and even clever hacks that let third-party companies tap into the service. Apple and its fans may be excited by the voice recognition technology, but one of Google's executives is not overly impressed.

I don't believe that your phone should be an assistant. Your phone is a tool for communicating. You shouldn't be communicating with the phone; you should be communicating with somebody on the other side of the phone.

Rubin may not look favorably on Siri, but he does give Apple credit for waiting until the technology was mature before rolling it out on the iPhone 4S. He noted,

In projecting the future, I think Apple did a good job of figuring out when the technology was ready to be consumer-grade.

Though Rubin claims not to be fond of voice recognition on a mobile phone, he does oversee Android's development at Google and has allowed advanced voice recognition features to be built into this mobile OS.

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AndroidAndy RubinAndyRubinAsiaDiOSSirivoice recognitionVoiceRecognitionThu, 20 Oct 2011 17:00:00 -040016|20086205http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/19/googles-very-close-to-launching-a-digital-download-store-with/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/19/googles-very-close-to-launching-a-digital-download-store-with/http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/19/googles-very-close-to-launching-a-digital-download-store-with/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#commentsGoogle Music may well be lacking a little spice right now, but here at AsiaD, SVP Andy Rubin just confirmed that his company's "very close" to coming up with a digital download store, just as rumored earlier this month. Additionally, this service will even include "a little twist" of some sort, so we should expect something more than just an ordinary MP3 store. While record companies weren't willing to bargain with the company in the way they were with Apple, Andy said he's feeling mighty optimistic that Google's "almost there" with ironing out the necessary deals, so Android fans should sit tight and keep an eye out for a launch soon.

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all things dAllThingsDandy rubinAndyRubinasiadasiad 2011Asiad2011breaking newsdigital downloaddigital musicDigitalDownloadDigitalMusicgooglegoogle musicGoogleMusicmobilepostcrossmusicWed, 19 Oct 2011 07:08:00 -040021|20085091http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/19/andy-rubin-ice-cream-sandwichs-face-unlock-is-developed-by-pit/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/19/andy-rubin-ice-cream-sandwichs-face-unlock-is-developed-by-pit/http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/19/andy-rubin-ice-cream-sandwichs-face-unlock-is-developed-by-pit/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#commentsLiking that Face Unlock on Ice Cream Sandwich we saw this morning? You can thank PittPatt for that. Here at AsiaD's opening session, Android head honcho Andy Rubin just confirmed that said Pittsburgh-based company -- acquired by Google earlier this year -- was responsible for this nifty security feature. While the demo didn't go as planned for Matias Duarte at the launch event, Andy was able to show us how Face Unlock's meant to work on the stage just now. In fact, Andy said his team even had to "slow down the process" as PittPatt's software was too fast to make folks believe that any security at all was involved -- for what it's worth, Walt Mossberg's beard couldn't get past the unlock screen on Andy's Galaxy Nexus. Head on over to our hands-on video to see us getting up close and personal with Face Unlock.

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all things dAllThingsDandroidandroid 4.0Android4.0Andy RubinAndyRubinasiadasiad 2011Asiad2011cellphoneface unlockFaceUnlockfacial recognitionFacialRecognitiongooglemobilemobile phoneMobilePhonemobilepostcrossOSphonePittPattsecuritysmartphonesoftwaretabletWed, 19 Oct 2011 06:49:00 -040021|20085064http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/19/liveblog-from-asiad-andy-rubin-svp-of-mobile-at-google/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi
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Thought today's festivities were over from Hong Kong? Think again. While Samsung and Google tag-teamed the morning with the introduction of the Galaxy Nexus, the first-ever AsiaD conference is kicking off as the sun sets over Victoria Harbour. The opening keynote is quite the impressive one, with Google's own Senior Vice President of Mobile, Andy Rubin, on the docket. Mr. Rubin's no stranger to these events -- in fact, we've liveblogged his interviews twice from All Things D events -- and we're expecting quite the talk tonight following the official unveiling of Ice Cream Sandwich. Join us after the break for the liveblog!

Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility is already starting to lose that new car smell, but a fresh batch of financial details has now emerged, providing deeper insight into how the deal actually went down. According to an SEC filing that Motorola Mobility released yesterday, Google made an initial offer of $30 per share on August 1st, but soon raised that bid to $37 per share on August 9th, after Moto and its advisers asked for $43.50. On that same day, Google again raised its offer to $40 per share, even though Motorola wasn't accepting bids from other firms, for fear that a public auction would jeopardize its sale. This 33 percent increase ultimately added some $3 billion to the pot, bringing the final price tag to $12.5 billion. A Mountain View spokeswoman declined to comment on the negotiations, though its aggressive bidding suggests that the search giant desperately wanted the deal to go through. The documents also reveal that patent-related issues were at the forefront of discussions from the very beginning, when Google's Senior Vice President Andy Rubin met with Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha to talk about their mutual concerns, way back in July. According to the Wall Street Journal, these talks eventually convinced Jha that his company would be better off under Google's stewardship, amid fears that Moto could get swallowed by the stormy seas of patent litigation -- anxieties that the exec made all too apparent just four days before the merger was announced. You can dig through the full SEC filing at the source link below.

Google's Andy Rubin just came up on stage here at the IDF keynote, joining Intel CEO Paul Otellini who was holding a bona fide Medfield-powered smartphone running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)! Hard to be sure, but the device looks eerily like the Aava Mobile handset we've seen before. The cameo was part of a much larger initiative, which will see Intel working concurrently with Google in order to optimize future processors for use with Android. We were actually tipped off on this a few days back, but at the time, it was difficult to tell how much of a consumer impact it'd have. Given Andy's showing, though, it's looking better and better in that regard. The most impressive tidbit, however, is the promise that all future Android builds will be "optimized" for Intel's low-power Atom clan. We've compiled a gallery for you below, and hopefully we'll have a hands-on later today.

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Aava MobileAavaMobileandroidandroid 2.3Android2.3Andy RubinAndyRubinbreaking newsgingerbreadgooglegoogle androidGoogleAndroididfidf 2011Idf2011intelintel medfieldIntelMedfieldmedfieldmobilepostcrossPaul OtelliniPaul OttelliniPaulOtelliniPaulOttelliniTue, 13 Sep 2011 13:10:00 -040021|20041705http://www.tuaw.com/2011/09/02/apple-alleges-andy-rubin-got-inspiration-for-android-while-worki/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=TUAW.com&ncid=rss_semi
http://www.tuaw.com/2011/09/02/apple-alleges-andy-rubin-got-inspiration-for-android-while-worki/http://www.tuaw.com/2011/09/02/apple-alleges-andy-rubin-got-inspiration-for-android-while-worki/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=TUAW.com#commentsA substantial wrinkle has just been introduced in Apple's patent infringement case against HTC. According to recent briefs that Apple filed in that case, Android's genesis was not in the mid-1990s when Andy Rubin worked for General Magic or Danger. Instead, Apple alleges that Rubin drew inspiration for Android's frameworks from APIs he encountered while working for Apple itself in the early 90s.

Apple claims that Rubin was a "low-level engineer" who reported directly to the engineers who invented one of the patents it claims HTC infringes. Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents surmises this means Rubin may have "contributed to the implementation of the claimed invention." If true, this allegation would go a long way toward proving Apple's claim that Rubin derived some of Android's frameworks from work he did at Apple.

Mueller notes that this has "serious ramifications" should Apple ever decide to sue Google itself rather than suing it by proxy via Android handset manufacturers. "Google (or a Google subsidiary like [Motorola]) would almost certainly be found to infringe the relevant patent intentionally, and willful infringement would greatly increase Apple's chances of obtaining an injunction as well as triple damages."

Mueller points out that the judge presiding in Oracle's lawsuit against Google also suspects Rubin of willful patent infringement. If Google is found guilty of willful infringement in both the Oracle suit and an as yet theoretical suit from Apple, Google's future (and Android's) looks very rocky indeed.

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You may have noticed that Steve Jobs isn't nitpicking anymore over how Google measures the number of Android activations. It probably has something to do with the fact that, no matter how you slice it, at this point Android's growth is outpacing that of the iOS. In fact, according to Andy Rubin, 500,000 new Android devices are activated every day, and that number is continuing to grow. Heck, as of December that number was only 300,000 -- that's a 60-percent increase in just over seven months. At this rate there will be more Android phones than people in just a few short years. There might not be enough food and potable water to sustain the Earth's ever growing population, but at least everyone will be able to tweet about it.

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In the year 2000, former Apple, WebTV and Philips employees Andy Rubin, Joe Britt, and Matt Hershenson founded a little company called Danger Incorporated, which you may know from such hits as the original Sidekick and a $500 million sale to Microsoft. One of those three co-founders, Andy Rubin, has since become a very public face at Google, and it turns out he's recently gotten back together with his former compatriots to do more than just reminisce about the old days. As Fortune reports, both Britt and Hershenson quietly joined Google "within the last twelve months" to run a new Android Hardware wing of the company. So far, much of their work has apparently focused on accessories and, while there's reportedly no plans for any actual Google-branded accessories anytime soon, Britt reportedly said that he would like to see the company produce some Android peripherals of its own "in the long term." Of course, Danger also produced its own software back in the day and, as you're probably aware, the key architect of it, Matias Duarte, is now at Google as well.

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androidandy rubinAndyRubindangerdanger incdanger incorporatedDangerIncDangerIncorporatedgooglejoe brittJoeBrittMatt HershensonMattHershensonsidekickWed, 11 May 2011 20:34:00 -040021|19938246http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/10/google-clarifies-18-month-android-upgrade-program-details-far-f/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi
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We're camped out here at Google'e executive Q&A session, and Andy Rubin and co. are spitting out answers to questions from curious minds. While mentioned briefly in the outfit's keynote earlier, the structured upgrade program is obviously becoming a huge focal point here at the show. One of the major pain points for Android owners in the past (and even now, truthfully) is the inability to know if and when your particular handset will ever get an Android update. Epic 4G owners had a particularly hard go at it, but most everyone outside of Nexus One users have experienced something similar. Unfortunately, it seems as if our excitement may be a bit premature. While LG, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, AT&T, Vodafone, Sprint, Samsung, HTC and Verizon Wireless are technically onboard, all of this feels like it was decided upon at the 11th hour here in San Francisco. When pressed about how long it'd take updates to flow to phones after given the thumbs-up by Google itself, there's no hard news to report. In fact, the details there are still being hashed out.

To quote Google, "It's a logistics problem." We can only imagine. Trying to get every Android partner to follow a timeline for releases has to be a complete and utter nightmare, but the company seems certain that these stipulations won't cripple anyone's ability to innovate on their skins (or have too little time to make the needed changes).

We would've loved to hear a specific figure that we could start holding phone manufacturers to, but alas, it isn't to be. The only hard number thrown out today is 18 months. That's how long future hardware will be in the support cycle (at least, anyway), so you'll "soon" be able to count on your next Android device receiving all applicable updates for 1.5 years after purchase. As for phones that use custom skins, like Blur and Sense? Hard to say if that'll slow things down, and it's even harder to say if outfits like Dell will be joining this party at any time in the future. Though, to be fair, Andy Rubin clarified that there's an "open invitation" for anyone not listed to waltz on in. Naturally, we'll keep you abreast of any further developments from the show floor.

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androidAndy RubinAndyRubincarrierfroyogooglegoogle androidgoogle iogoogle io 2011GoogleAndroidGoogleIoGoogleIo2011honeycombice cream sandwichIceCreamSandwichplatformupgradeTue, 10 May 2011 14:12:00 -040021|19936765http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/09/editorial-androids-problem-isnt-fragmentation-its-contamina/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi
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This thought was first given voice by Myriam Joire on last night's Mobile Podcast, and the simple, lethal accuracy of it has haunted me ever since. All the hubbub and unrest about whether Google is trying to lock Android down or not has failed to address whether Google should be trying to control the OS, and if so, what the (valid) reasons for that may be. Herein, I present only one, but it's arguably big enough to make all the dissidence about open source idealism and promises unkept fade into insignificance.